"In the morning, when I rise...and when I am alone...and when I come to die, give me Jesus. Give me Jesus, give me Jesus. You can have all this world, just give me Jesus." These words from one of my favorite simple worship songs kind of sum up how the apostles did their ministry, especially in this chapter. Not focusing on much of anything else but giving people Jesus through preaching, teaching, and healing ministries.
Acts 3
1. What stuck out to me from this chapter?
As I read through the chapter this time, I loved how Peter asks two questions of the people who witnessed the healing of the lame man. "Why does this surprise you?" and "Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" This question seemed to me to imply two convicting answers: 1) We should not be surprised at all that God would/could do something like this because nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37, Mark 10:27), and 2) Neither the healing nor the preaching nor the teaching come from their own strength or godliness, but from the power of the Holy Spirit they had just received in the last chapter. :)
2. How does this passage relate to any other Scripture passage I know?
In John 14, another passage where Jesus describes the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples prior to his death, Jesus says, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified." (John 14:12-13) In the healing, Peter specifically said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Obviously Peter and John were paying attention to Jesus earlier lesson. There is power in the name of Jesus, for the glory of God.
3. What does this mean for my life?
I can really relate to Peter and John walking through the temple. My bank accounts are not overflowing (although even in monetary terms I consider myself rich compared most of the world and thank God for his provision), so although I wish I could financially support every charity and every person that needed help, I can't. But I need to remember that I do have Jesus in my life, and that is the greatest gift I could ever give to someone - to love them in Jesus' name, and share the good news of Jesus for all.
Also, I've never thought about the opportunity to repent specifically as a blessing, but the very last verse of this chapter says that Jesus was sent to the Jews to bless them by turning them from their wicked ways. I want to be more thankful to God for the very option of repentance (and then do it daily). :)
4. What questions do I have about this chapter?
I have lots of questions about healing, that I have asked different people and have gotten different answers. First, does God always desire healing for everyone that's sick? Is he always just waiting for someone to come along in Jesus' name to command healing? What about all those times you or I have prayed for healing and it didn't come? Or maybe it didn't come right away, like in this story (and most of the healing stories in the Bible. Even if we do pray for healing, we're not going to live forever. Those are most of my questions about that.
I'd love to hear any thoughts from any other readers.
In Christ,
Dan
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